When is a can not necessarily a can?

I never thought about it this way before, but the can of diced tomatoes I used in a recipe recently may once have played a tiny part in holding up a house, keeping a family’s clothes clean or delivering the carpool. Steel, like aluminum, is a metal that’s highly recyclable, and while cans are the most common usage for both metals, reused steel can come from and go into a host of other products, from car bumpers to building materials to big-ticket appliances.